FBI Director Kash Patel urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to end a contentious oversight hearing Tuesday after Democrats questioned him for hours about both his leadership of the bureau and his personal life, including his relationship with his girlfriend.
Alexis Wilkins, a 26-year-old country singer, sat several feet behind Patel throughout the hearing, maintaining a stone-faced expression.
During the nearly five-hour session, Patel faced a broad range of questions concerning his time as FBI director, alleged drinking habits, use of FBI resources and overall suitability for the position.
(Patel said earlier this year that he had ‘never been intoxicated on the job.’)
At several points, the hearing erupted into shouting exchanges. Patel accused Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and other committee Democrats of ‘baselessly’ targeting him and those close to him for political advantage instead of conducting meaningful oversight of the FBI.
Schiff and other Democratic members later questioned Patel about reports involving Wilkins’ security detail, including claims that he used the FBI’s SWAT team to protect her.
‘I’m trying to get an answer from you – a very simple answer – about the reporter who wrote an article about the potential misuse of an FBI SWAT team,’ Schiff began.
‘It didn’t happen. Total lie,’ Patel fired back.
‘So, let me repeat it – because you didn’t answer the question,’ Schiff said as he attempted to continue, before Patel interrupted him again in a louder voice.
‘It’s a total lie!’ Patel told Schiff. ‘I’m not going to answer it.’
Alexis Wilkins, Kash Patel’s girlfriend, looks on during FBI Director Kash Patel’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on FBI oversight
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Chuck Grassley speaks during Patel’s testimony, which stretched for nearly five hours
Kash Patel’s girlfriend performs at a wrestling match in the fall of 2025
Alexis Wilkins is seen with Patel and President Donald Trump during the beginning of his second term
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Alexis Wilkins poses with Kash Patel for a selfie during a wrestling match in the fall of 2025
Schiff then observed that the back-and-forth would only extend the hearing longer, prompting Patel to turn to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and urge him to end the hearing entirely.
‘You don’t have to extend anything,’ Patel said, before turning to the chairman. ‘Mr. Chairman, I’ve maintained decorum through this entire hearing,’ the FBI director said.
He then told Grassley that Democrats ‘have called me a thug, a liar, [and] baselessly attacked my loved ones – continuing to jeopardize the safety of me and mine.’
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa listens to testimony from Patel at a hearing on Capitol Hill
Senator Cory Booker speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Booker described Patel as more a ‘lackey’ than an FBI director in one particularly heated moment
‘I would appreciate it if you concluded this hearing,’ Patel continued, ‘because this guy’ -referring to Schiff – ‘has no interest in oversight.’
Grassley did not immediately yield Patel’s request.
Instead, he attempted to urge calm, once again, and reiterated instructions on decorum to Patel and Schiff to govern the remainder of the proceedings.
The rest of the day was marked by heated confrontations between Patel and Democrats – and featured remarks that at were, at times, both combative and personal.
‘We have a lackey. And frankly, he’s not even a good lackey,’ said Senator Cory Booker a Democrat from New Jersey.
‘He’s like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends,’ Booker continued of Patel, adding: ‘He’s an embarrassment to the agency – and wouldn’t qualify even to be an FBI agent.’